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myth/myst review

ant3241

A research method where anthropologists participate in the lives of the people under study while at the same time making objective observations

worldview

how people perceive and interpret their reality in different societies

Cultural Relativism

Attempting to analyze and understanding cultures other than one’s own without judging them in terms of one’s own culture

Ethnocentrism:

Using one’s own culture as the basis for interpreting and judging other cultures

Shamans

part-time religious specialists
receive power directly from the spirit world
sometimes called “wounded healers” because they become a shaman through illness, accident, spirit possession, etc

Priests

full-time religious specialist
formal religious institutions.
representative of the community to the deity or deities
responsible for the performance of prescribed rituals and periodic rituals.
found in more complex food-producing societies.

The skill of a priest is based on

learning of ritual knowledge, sacred narratives, and how to perform these rituals for the benefit of the community.

Priestly rituals usually take place

in a space that is set aside for ceremonial activities, such as a temple or shrine.

Magic

rituals people use to control the supernatural. usually includes: a spell, the manipulation of objects, special conditions for the performer of the ritual. The oral text is often known as a spell.

The Law of Similarity

things that are alike are the same

The Law of Contact (Contagion)

things that were once in contact continue to be connected

Magic is most frequently found in situations that are

unpredictable (fear, anxiety, etc.)

Magic involves the use of

plant material, called medicines, in which supernatural power resides among the Azande.

plant material

medicines

Differences in the concept of the soul among human societies include

the size of the soul
the number of souls a human possesses
the location of the soul in the human body. In some societies one’s soul is in one’s shadow or in one’s reflection in a mirror.

immortal, eternal soul

We can find belief of this in Hinduism.

Ghost

can best be thought of as a soul that remains in the world of the living.

In eastern European folk belief, a vampire is a person who

a person who, having died before his time, returns to life to bring death to his friends and neighbors

The origins of Halloween can be found in

a(n) ancient Celtic festival called Samhain.

God

an individual supernatural being, w/ distinctive name, personality, and control or influence of a major aspect of nature (such as rain or fertility), that encompasses the life of an entire community or a major segment of the community

Baseball Magic Article

Magic-like rituals
athletes in athletic competition.
Certain ritual behaviors are adopted because the player associated certain activities with success

anthropomorphic entities

ex: Gods
(Nonhuman entities that have human characteristics).

Spirit

less powerful than a god and usually more localized;
tend to be associated with specific locations.
provide protection and success
also are blamed for minor mishaps.
They are not responsible for some powerful aspect of nature.

Pantheon

Refers to a hierarchy of gods. All gods and goddesses in a polytheistic system form a pantheon.

supernatural power that lies within their body-
differ from sorcerers in small-scale societies-
can kill by willing death to occur

The concept of witchcraft in small-scale societies is largely based on the work of

E. E. Evans-Pritchard

Evans-Pritchard concluded that a belief in witchcraft serves three functions:

It provides an explanation for the explainable;
it provides a set of cultural behaviors for dealing with unfortunate
it serves to define morality.

Zande believes that witchcraft is:

a substance found within the body of the witch.

Salem Witch trials

A series of witchcraft trials and executions took place in the late 17th century in the United States, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts.

Diffusion:

The movement of culture traits from one culture to another

Acculturation:

The process whereby a culture accepts traits from a dominant society.
the situation whereby a culture is significantly changed because of exposure to the influence of a politically and technologically dominant culture.

Assimilation:

A condition whereby a dominated culture has changed so much because of outside influences that it ceases to have its own distinct identify

Culture change occurs through the processes of

discovery, invention, and diffusion

syncretism

Traits from two cultures fuse to form something new and yet, at the same time, permit the retention of the old by subsuming the old into a new form, (ex: Vodou in Haiti, Santeria in Cuba)

In Cuba the deities are called:

Orisha

In Cuba the deities are known by:

Their Yoruba names (Santeria).

Vodou

Haiti-
Rich in symbolism-
Art, dance and music play central roles in ritual.-
Resembles traditional West African religions -
characterized by a pantheon of intermediary deities, spirit possession, and offerings placed on altars.

The Ghost Dance of 1890

begun by a Paiute prophet Wovoka
promised the return of the ancestors and the disappearance of the dominant society.
an example of a nativistic movement

Nativistic movement

a type of revitalization movement that develops in traditional societies that are threatened by the activities of more technologically advanced societies.

Sect vs denomination:

Many religious groups develop by branching off of established mainstream religions.

Sect

A new branch of a mainstream religion, usually involving new revelations, new scriptures, and a new leader.

Denomination

The groups that remain mainstream and differ the least from the original religion

UFO religions

examples of new religious movements. An example of a UFO religion is Heaven’s Gate

Virtual Religion Article
benefits of St. John’s Internet Church.

open 24/7 for worship.
Seated view where the participant looks as if he/she is actually seated in a church setting.
Allows one to move at their own pace to understand all materials being taught.

purpose of death rituals/funerals

channeling the expressions of grief
determining the fate of the soul,
protecting the community of ghosts

Revitalization movement

forms in attempt to deliberately bring about change in a society.
may be brought about by political and economic marginalization, malnutrition and high level of epidemic disease, and perception that values of the community are being threatened.

Fundamentalism:

return to fundamental principles
usually includes a resistance to modernization and emphasis on certainty through a literal interpretation of scriptures.

Features of fundamentalism

Totalism, scripturalism,and traditioning.

James G. Frazer Sympathetic Magic article.

Magic is closely related to science.

Campbell, Heidi (2007), ‘What Hath God Wrought
Kosher Cell Phone

This article shows that a religious group’s response to a technology cannot be separated from those values that guide all aspects of community life

Haitian Vodou as case of religious syncretism

Vodou syncretism is the association of particular Iwa with Catholic saints and manifestations of the Virgin, i.e. in Haitian Vodou, the identification of the Yoruba deity Legba as St. Peter is an example of syncretism

Santeria as cases of religious syncretism

developed in Cuba from a fusion of West African religions, (primarily Yoruba and Spanish Catholicism) out of societies of freed slaves living in various locations and conditions
Santeria deities, called orisha, show the same syncretism as the Haitian Iwa

Santeria

Rule of the Orisha

E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Men Bewitch Others When They Hate Them:

In addition, remember that even though somebody is seen as a witch in society, they are not deemed as a bad person in Azande society

Peter M. Worsley, âCargo Cultsâ

Religious movement occurring among small-scale societies of Melanesia in response to culture contact; the movement focuses on the attainment of trade goods.

Michael J. Harner, âThe Sound of Rushing Waterâ

Among the Jivaro Tribe, the shamans hold very strong power over supernatural forces; strong enough to be able to fully curse and kill, and to fully heal and cure someone. They gain this power by entering a tranced state of being with a hallucinogen.

Paul Boyer et al., Witchcraft and Social Identity

looks at the pattern of witchcraft accusations as a result of socioeconomic and political factions in Salem during the 17th century.

Ideas of witchcraft in Europe were influenced by

Christian ideas about the nature of evil

In Euro-American witchcraft beliefs, witches define

all that is wrong and immoral

Christianity accepts the existence of an evil spirit, known as

Satan or the Devil

In (euro-american) belief system witches are individuals whose evil power originates with

a pact with the Devil

In Europe, witchcraft beliefs were merged with

sorcery.

Sorcery became associated with the

invocation of spirits, which was defined as being hostile to God

Magic and witchcraft became not just crimes against society, but also

heresy/crimes against God.

Witchcraze period

began at the end of the Middle Ages (around 1450) and lasted for about 200 years

Anyone doing any form of magic was seen as

calling on the servants of Satan

most likely targets of witchcraft accusations

People who exhibit antisocial behavior

What need do witches fulfill

our unconscious need to blame someone for the misfortunes that we experience in our daily lives